On August 28, 2009, I packed up my stuff from my corporate america job and said my final goodbyes. My manager cried because there was nothing she could do to keep me. My closest co-worker cried because she would really miss me. The other associates rallied up and gave me nice farewell gifts. Today, March 16, 2010, seven months later, I still do not have a job. I started working when I was sixteen years old. In the last eight years of having jobs, I have never been unemployed for this length of time. All of my life I've had to work (yes, I used my Miss Sophia from The Color Purple voice). Now that I am not working, I feel so...confused. The more I think about not having a job, the more I want to just give up.Oh but this has happened before. The Great Depression of 1929 definitely happened. Although what we are experiencing today does not compare to the devastation of that time. This recession is the worst since then.I am on my second unemployment benefits installment. Everyday I wonder how long I will continue to have it or if one day the government will take it away. I wonder if it will be enough to put gas in my car or pay my cell phone bill and/or other random life expenses.And then I am reminded that I am alive and breathing; I am still able to apply for jobs; I can still walk to an interview. All over again, I become encouraged.New motto:

There's ALWAYS a bright side.